HAVANA (Reuters) -A small group of Cuban musicians, together with the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, paid homage in Havana to salsa icon Celia Cruz, who died in 2003 but would have celebrated her 100th birthday on Tuesday.

The discreet ceremony, which took place in a Catholic church in central Havana, came after Cuba’s National Center for Popular Music last week canceled another homage organized by well-known theater group “El Publico” at a local music hall.

The state-run entity did not say why it had called off the event in a brief statement on social media.

The decision nonetheless prompted accusations of censorship from some fans of the so-called Queen of Salsa, who left Cuba shortly after Fidel Castro’s rise to power and had long criticized the island’s communist-run government.

U.S. C

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